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Columnist Corner

Triple H's promo to kick off the show was strong at first, but his "Kevin Nash broke my heart" line really killed it. The segment came off as tacky and phony, especially when Nash "attacked" HHH while attached to the stretcher. I understand Nash's dirty tactics are in an effort to help him regain heat, but I doubt it will benefit him in the long run. Despite the ridiculous nature of the first twenty minutes of the program, I'm glad Nash once again has a definite place on programming again while feuding with former friend Triple H.

Solid tag team match between SmackDown members Randy Orton and Sheamus and Christian and Cody Rhodes. Putting the faces over only a day after they buried their respective opponents at Vengeance was illogical, but the action is what kept the contest from becoming a total miss.

Throwaway match between United States Champion Dolph Ziggler and Santino Marella. Marella means absolutely nothing at this point, and Ziggler should rather be featured in more prominent matches on the card. I'm not looking forward to Ziggler's upcoming program with Mason Ryan over the belt, as Ryan is so green that the match will obviously be nothing to write home about.

Great promo between WWE Champion Alberto Del Rio and CM Punk. It's a nice breath of fresh air knowing John Cena is finally out of the title picture, and Punk is the perfect opponent to take his place. These two got well deserved mic time, and it plants the seeds to an apparent title match between the two at Survivor Series.

Quick, painless match between Alicia Fox and Natalya. Fox's new music is garbage, but it signals a renewed push for the recently turned Diva. This contest was as short as any other Diva match, but it served its purpose. With Kelly Kelly and Eve already receiving their respective shots at the title, I'm glad Phoenix will receive a fresh opponent for the meantime.

John Cena makes a bold statement to Awesome Truth.

Filler match between John Morrison and Wade Barrett, but good for what it was. Neither man means anything at the moment, so it's nice to see Barrett recovering from this self-proclaimed resurrection. Morrison, on the other hand, continues to stack up losses and spiral downhill.

I'm not sure if Michael Cole's hype for his "challenge" next week against Jim Ross will exactly boost ratings, but it's a great touch for those (myself included) who desperately feel Ross is needed on the broadcast to enhance the product. I'm hopeful we could finally see the end of Cole-miner era for the first time in years, with Creative finally doing something smart for once by fully utilizing Ross to his full potential instead of embarrassing him on a consistent basis.

Honestly, I was a bit disappointed to see Zack Ryder beat down by Awesome Truth prior to his scheduled tag contest and subsequently not receive his first-ever main event match on Raw. The question still stands that if John Cena can indeed overpower Awesome Truth on his own, then why in the world he acquire the services of the Rock? Nonetheless, it gives me hope this angle could be leading to something much bigger instead of the usual faces going over bit.

Overall, a pretty good that succeeded in taking a break following Vengeance, while also hinting some upcoming matches for Survivor Series next month. However, WWE's new-found obsession with Twitter has reached an all-time high of annoying, and can hopefully tune down the use of plugging of social networking in subsequent weeks.